Weekend lightning spares Bay Space, however destruction from ‘megafires’ continues

The Bay Area took a rare hiatus on Monday when an expected spate of lightning strikes never materialized and more foreign aid came to quell three gigantic forest fires in the area.

However, the extent of the damage from these flames comes into focus as they engulf homes and forests at a ferocious pace with little containment.

“We’re essentially living in a megafire era,” said Jake Hess, chief of the Santa Clara Cal fire department, on Monday, describing wildfires that got out of hand and become more complicated and destructive every year. He warned that early and large evacuations will occur more frequently if the emergency services make an effort to keep up.

Even on a day of relative calm, the winds could change at any moment, Governor Gavin Newsom said on Monday, linking the massive fires to climate change. The new conditions – short springs, dry summers and intense weather – “start fires like we have not seen in modern history,” said the governor.

Heavy thunderstorms skipped the Bay Area on Sunday evening, saving residents the lightning strikes that started hundreds of forest fires last week and sparked the current crisis. Instead, the storms threw water and a bit of lightning across the Central Valley and into the Sierra Nevada. The Tahoe region experienced a thunderstorm around 4:30 a.m. and winds of 75 km / h.

“Most of the Bay Area dodged a bullet,” said Roger Gass, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service.

Ten new fires started in other parts of the state, but the attack was nowhere near as bad as expected. And as the weather cools down a bit, the California fire battle currently being fought with more than 14,000 firefighters and 2,400 engines is getting much-needed support from nature.

Newsom added that the state has placed 2,211 evacuees in hotel rooms and 17 emergency shelters across the state. And he said California has issued safety protocols to prevent the spread of the coronavirus in these shelters, including requiring a health screening upon entry. Masks and social distancing are also mandatory.

But for the Bay Area fire department, it was the lack of lightning and even a little rain that made the biggest impression. That was good news for the thousands of overworked firefighters fighting flames in the north, east, and south of the Bay Area, and didn’t give them new big fires to deal with – just the existing ones that were bad enough although the crews made some progress overnight.

We canceled the red flag warning.

Be weather aware as there are still weak cells over the North Bay. However, most of the moisture has moved north of our area and instability has decreased so we can be sure that the warning will expire ahead of schedule. # CAwx pic.twitter.com/bG8PKPr6Sn

– NWS Bay Area (@NWSBayArea) August 24, 2020

“We have had a lot of success and Mother Nature has obviously helped us a lot with humidity, increased humidity and less wind,” said Billy See, deputy chief of California’s Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, at a briefing on the CZU Lightning Complex fires in the California on Monday Santa Cruz and San Mateo counties. “We will continue to make progress as long as conditions continue to improve.”

This fire grew only marginally to 78,684 acres and containment increased to 13%. Two hundred and seventy-six buildings have now been destroyed in both counties and another 25,000 have been threatened again. More than 77,000 people have been evacuated from the fire zone.

So far, the fire has resulted in one death – 73-year-old Tad Jones, who died in a remote area at the end of Last Chance Road. He apparently tried to escape and was found near his vehicle, said a spokesman for the Santa Cruz Sheriff’s Office. Four people in the county are missing.

In the North Bay, which stretches into Solano County, the LNU Lightning Complex – the second most common fire in the state’s history – hit 350,030 acres on Monday with a 22% containment. Cal Fire reported Monday that another person was found dead in the Solano County fire, but further details were not available. Cal Fire had previously confirmed four previous deaths.

Chris Waters, director of the Cal Fire division, said conditions had improved overall in several areas of the fire – particularly in the Meyers Fire north of Jenner. Containment had improved to 95 percent with 2,360 acres burned. Sonoma County has reported no deaths or missing persons.

“We’ve got this under control pretty well and we’re starting to think about repopulating the area,” said Waters. He also said the crews were working to reopen Highway 1 in that area.

Also within the LNU complex, the massive Hennessey fire in the eastern zone is now on 293,602 acres at 26% containment, Cal Fire said.

However, none of these advances could minimize the heartache left by the raging flames.

It was utter devastation on Monday near Spanish Flat, an area next to the picturesque Berryessa Lake. The entire landscape was charred and the winding roads lined the roads with molten road signs.

25-year-old firefighter Brandon North said his parents’ mobile home burned down in a fire that ripped through the area last week. It was a cruel irony for him to be a firefighter, having to evacuate his own neighborhood and then watch his parents’ house go up in flames.

“I’ve been to major fires outside of the county before,” he said. “But it’s just a little different when it’s your front yard.”

In Vacaville on Monday, Ken Albers slowly shuffled through his burning showroom and passed three of his 16 classic Chevrolets, the paint melted and charred and, like the rest of his house, destroyed.

The retired 72-year-old surveyor had lived on the 5-hectare property for 30 years with his 72-year-old wife Marci. They were both lifelong collectors. Marci lost her 500 Ginny dolls, stamp collection, antiques, and Ken lost his 500-piece toy train set and 200 plastic car models. And all the classic Chevys melted and roasted – eight were Corvettes.

“It’s pretty devastating,” said Ken. “There is nothing left of the house but the chimney.”

The SCU Lightning Complex from fires in Contra Costa, Alameda, Santa Clara and several other counties grew to 347,196 acres with only 10% containment. Twelve buildings were destroyed and twelve others damaged, Cal Fire reported. It is the third largest fire in the state’s history based on the area burned.

Despite Monday’s dawn with no local lightning strikes, Bay Area fire and weather officials warned that dry lightning could strike throughout the day and that the area was still occupied by firefighters due to the unexpectedly large spread of the flames.

While fire smoke clogged the air almost everywhere, air quality remained unhealthy in parts of the East Bay on Monday, although it improved somewhat across the Bay Area as a whole.

The worst air quality in the area was in Livermore, Pleasanton, Concord and Vallejo, according to the Bay Area Air Quality Management District. Each of these cities reported unhealthy levels of particulate matter from devastating smoke.

These readings were at least the worst improvement over Sunday when Livermore and Pleasanton experienced dangerous levels of pollution. San Francisco, Oakland, Berkeley, and San Jose all reported moderate air quality.

The San Francisco Chronicle employees Dustin Gardiner, Ryan Kost, and Dominic Fracassa contributed to this report.

Kevin Fagan, Trisha Thadani, Matthias Gafni, and Rachel Swan are contributors to the San Francisco Chronicle. Email: kfagan@sfchronicle.com, tthadani@sfchronicle.com, matthias.gafni@sfchronicle.com, rswan@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @KevinChron, @TrishaThadani, @mgafni, @rachelswan